A German rapper-turned-jihadist has called on his followers to carry out terrorist attacks in Germany.

In a high-quality video released by the Islamic State in April, Denis Cuspert also warns that terrorist sleeper cells have infiltrated Germany and are ready for activation.

German authorities say they are taking the threats seriously: Cuspert — who has been likened to Nazi Minister for Propaganda Joseph Goebbels — has become the Islamic State's chief propagandist in the German language and is unusually capable of inspiring disillusioned young Germans to become jihadists.

Cuspert's transformation from rapper to jihadist is documented in a 25-page analysis produced by the German intelligence service, which has described him as "quite simply the most interesting propagandist of the Salafist movement in the German-speaking realm."

Cuspert, 39, was born in Berlin to a German mother and a Ghanaian father. The father abandoned the family while Cuspert was still a baby and his mother remarried an African-American military officer, with whom Cuspert had a deeply troubled relationship.

Perhaps in search of an identity, Cuspert in 1995 embarked on a rapping career in which he sought to imitate American hip-hop artists. Also known by his stage name, Deso Dogg, he eventually ended up in prison for a variety of offenses, including drug-related crimes. Over the ensuing years, he released four albums, but after narrowly surviving a car accident in October 2008, he began to take an interest in Salafist Islam.

In 2010, Cuspert gave up his rap career and formally embraced Islam. He dropped his stage name in favor of the Islamic name Abou Maleeq and began singing Islamic battle hymns known as nasheeds, in which he displayed an obsession with martyrdom.

Cuspert's "pop jihad" nasheeds drew attention after Arid Uka, a Muslim Kosovo Albanian from Frankfurt, murdered two U.S. airmen and wounded two others at Frankfurt Airport in March 2011. In court, Uka testified that just before carrying out the attack, he was listening to a nasheed calling for attacks against non-Muslims on his iPod. He said he had also been influenced by a video on Cuspert's Facebook page.

Meanwhile, Cuspert became involved with Mohamed Mahmoud, an Austrian-born Islamist who founded Millatu Ibrahim, a Salafist organization, in the Germany city of Solingen in 2011. The group called on German Muslims to reject German law and follow Islamic Sharia law instead.

The German government banned Millatu Ibrahim in May 2012, and Mahmoud, also known as Abu Usama Al-Gharib, fled to Egypt to reestablish the group there. "I am going to return to Germany in only one condition, as a conqueror to introduce Sharia in Germany," Mahmoud said at the time.

In a three-minute video, a German Salafist linked to Mahmoud calling himself Abu Azzam vowed revenge and called for the assassination of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He warned:

"Our troops are already there [in Germany], you will bleed, your heads will roll ... Oh Allah, give the German people what they deserve!

"Looking back at the Arab spring, we are looking forward to a European summer. We want to see Obama and Merkel dead."

Mahmoud eventually persuaded more than a dozen German Salafists to join him in Egypt at a time when the Muslim Brotherhood was ascendant there. Among them was Cuspert, who slipped out of Germany in June 2012 even though he was being surveilled by German intelligence.

After arriving in Egypt, Cuspert obtained firearms training at militant camp in Mersa Matruh, situated about 200 km east of the Libyan border. He then travelled to Libya to train with Islamic extremists before becoming a jihadist in Syria in early 2013.

In August 2013, Cuspert appeared in a four-minute video in which he expressed his desire to die as a suicide bomber, presumably in Germany. He can be heard rapping the lyrics:

"I wish for my death and cannot wait for it, armed with bombs and grenades;
Inside the barracks of the crusaders, pressing the button, al-Jannah [paradise], al-Jannah;
I detonate the bomb in the crowd, pressing the button, al-Jannah, al-Jannah;
Right in the center of town or in the subway, pressing the button, al-Jannah, al-Jannah;
With a smile directly to my Creator, pressing the button, al-Jannah, al-Jannah;
Remember your obligations and fear Allah, pressing the button, al-Jannah, al-Jannah."

Cuspert, who now uses the alias Abu Talha Al-Almani (Abu Talha the German), is believed to have formally joined the Islamic State sometime in April 2014. He was also rumored to have been killed in Syria that same month, but in November 2014, he appeared in an Islamic State video. He was holding a severed head and explaining in German that the victims had fought against the Islamic State and "that is why they received the death penalty."

In the latest video, dated April 2015, Cuspert can be heard rapping the following lyrics in German:

"To the enemies of Allah. Where are your troops? We can no longer wait. O Allah, destroy them! Grant us victory over them. Take from us. Make us honorable. Take from our blood. Fisabilillah [One who fights for the cause of Allah].

"Now listen, you dogs of hell. The words have been written. The ink has dried. The judgment has been made. Your end approaches.

"Mutilated soldiers are coming back to your homeland close to desperation. Eyes are being lost. Bodies without legs. We want your blood. It tastes so wonderful.

"In France, it has been proven by deeds. In Germany, sleeper cells lie in wait. The brothers are operating. Terrorizing the Kafir [nonbeliever].

"We have smelled blood. The revenge for the messenger. For our sisters. For our noble brothers. And all the martyrs.

"Allah has called you. There is no way out. Fill your car with gas. My brother, hurry up! Your neighbor is a Kafir. Slandering the messenger. Take a big knife and give him what he rightly deserves!

"Even while you're in Europe, do your jihad. Allah is going to reward you. Finish the dirty one. Paradise is waiting. Do it with sincerity.

"We have only one life. And it is Allah who gave it to us. Time is running out. So brother, struggle hard. Deeds make the difference. The earth is shaking. Khilafah [Caliphate], what a blessing. A favor from Allah.

"They all die for one cause. You either die or gain victory. There is no god but Allah."

German authorities are now looking for ways to hinder Cuspert's potential return to Europe. On February 8, Die Welt newspaper revealed that German public prosecutors were investigating 83 German jihadists, including Cuspert, for war crimes, for atrocities committed in the name of the Islamic State. If convicted, Cuspert, upon returning to Germany, could face life in prison.

On February 9, the U.S. State Department said that it had designated Cuspert a "global terrorist," and on March 11, Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs added Cuspert to a list of individuals off-limits to the country's banks, due to alleged ties to terrorist activities.

Such measures, however, are not likely to deter Cuspert from producing more propaganda videos. They arguably pose more of a threat to Germany than his physical presence there.

"As a rapper and as a jihadist, Cuspert represents authenticity. This 'battlefield credibility' contributes to his popularity within the international jihadi-Salafi scene. ... Cuspert's ostentatious but authentic appearance in his propaganda videos, together with the attractiveness of a currently victorious Islamic State, has considerable mobilizing power for radicalized individuals in Germany who want to travel to Syria. His demagogic propaganda lures young people with the ostensible promise of paradise but leads them to ruin.

"Jihadi-Salafist propaganda of the kind produced by Cuspert is freely accessible on the Internet and carries the risk that people will become radicalized and respond not only to the call to travel to fight abroad, but also to support terrorist groups such as the Islamic State here in Germany. As a consequence, the Salafist scene is poised to become increasingly violent while also growing in numbers."

Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-basedGatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him onFacebook and onTwitter.

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13 Reader Comments

Samir • Jun 2, 2015 at 11:41

This question is central if we are to counteract the phenomenon.

My understanding is that it satisfies the need for a simple way to regulate one's life. Modern life is so complex, on all counts: technically, legally, morally and socially.

The appeal of Salafism is its simplicity. The appeal of jihadism is its call for simplistic action.

To lash out is easy. But to curb anger is hard. To review and revise simple preexisting ideas is well nigh impossible without much education. To adapt to a new culture is ultradifficult, it is much easier to reject the new environment but exploit it.

In essence it is the raider's credo: do rapine, even if dangerous, since it is simply easier.

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John Rosenthal • May 27, 2015 at 10:14

How do you know that that is Cuspert's voice on the audio track? The voice is so highly produced that it could be anyone, and, comparing to other nasheeds that he is known to have recorded, I would say it is not him. For instance,see/listen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc_yg06c7Kg.

Moreover, Cuspert does not appear in the video and, in fact, he has not appeared in any new propaganda videos since his death was announced on jihadist internet forums and twitter feeds in April 2014. See my article "Is Germany's Top Terrorist Dead or Alive?" here:

For someone who raps so much about wanting to die a martyr, how come he hasn't yet?

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Vivian Salama • May 26, 2015 at 13:45

Frightening article. This is the future of all terrorist groups...inciting hate to disillusion youth...to create horrible killing. Countries need to reach these young people and offer them hope and turn them away from hateful Islamists.

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bernhard • May 26, 2015 at 12:18

Why a life in prison with lifelong support from our tax money? Hopefully, his obsession with martyrdom can be fulfilled, better now than later...

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Purushottam Deshmukh • May 26, 2015 at 12:03

Not only the West, but the East too is facing the grave danger of jihad. Jihadis have their sleeper cells existent in every country across the globe. This month Jihadis shot dead 45 Ahamadis boarding a bus in Pakistan. Bloggers in Bangladesh are meeting brutal ends. And until this day, both the countries have utterly failed to bring the culprits to trial.

So, it is against this background that Denis Cuspert alias Abou Maleeq's threat has huge import. However, holding a severed head in his hand and warning Germany is in fact the announcement of his tragic doom. He knows that normal peace loving secular people can go to any extent to safeguard their liberties but do not hold weapons in hands. His effort is to keep the normal people all over the world in constant fright. The IS hasn't yet been able to fully capture either Iraq or Syria. History of Islam itself is the witness that normal people cannot be won over by swords and violence.

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Carl • May 26, 2015 at 11:30

Maybe it is time to form a civilian Delta Force or hit squad to take these Islamists out once and for all. Though I am an advocate of freedom of speech, this guy is dangerous.

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Dennis Trisker • May 26, 2015 at 11:13

So much rap is based on delusion and inner hate. It's not enough that Cuspert made a lot of money singing his trash so that he could turn against those who are adding to his wealth. The deluded seeking for ways to express anger adopt such lies. If our educational systems were any good, young people would learn to reason and to think rather than to believe.

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Lofty Basta MD, FRCP, FACC • May 26, 2015 at 11:11

The behavior of Germany is understandable but cannot be condoned. Since World War2 and Hitler's flawed doctrine of the purification on the human race from the undesirables, Germany has been unwilling to speak ill of those who espouse similar doctrines; Hitler's one was nationalistic and that of ISIS based upon religious extremism. Both are wrong and demean the human race.

As the leader of Europe in many aspects, Germany has to speak out AND ACT AGAINST THE MENACE OF ISIS. These criminal beasts do not require timid actions from the developed Nations but coordinated effort to eradicate their toxic distorted ideology through PR, proper education and economic development. Leaders in the Muslim World who espouse these ideals have to encouraged and their message has to resonate throughout the World. Abd-El-Fattah El-Sisi (the current President of Egypt) deserves more support from the West.

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Samir Lofty Basta MD, FRCP, FACC • Jun 3, 2015 at 09:39

To Dr Basta: the theme common to Nazism and Daesh extremism (actually Salafi extremism) is the claim of Superiority Over All others ("uber alles"). Both implement(ed) the slogan by mass murder, and need to be considered facets of the same phenomenon, to be eschewed by modern civilization.

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David B. • May 26, 2015 at 09:00

I realize that Germany does not have a First Amendment; but, even here incitement to murder, mayhem and insurrection is not protected speech. Why isn't GSG9 or Germany's other counter terror units targeting this animal for termination? The Germany where I lived while serving in the US Army is quickly and sadly deteriorating. The EU of Konrad Adenauer's vision, and the one saved by Ronald Reagan, is poised to be toppled by these feral beasts.

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FX Meaney • May 26, 2015 at 08:10

It appears Germany already has severe problems with its Islamic population. When will they -- and other European nations -- start turning back illegal immigrants posing as "refugees." It's not Europe's fault that most Muslim majority nations are economic basket cases. It's the economy flowing from the precepts of Islam.

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Andy Gill • May 26, 2015 at 05:50

Cuspert's writings show he is clearly quite insane. He should be detained in a mental hospital and kept under heavy sedation for the rest of his miserable life. When sufficiently deteriorated he could be paraded occasionally as a warning to other would-be jihadis and for the amusement of the rest of us.